Diktator Typewriter Serial Numbers

Serial Number Table Last Edited: 02/18/17 05:00NOTE: dates shown are JAN 1 unless noted, so the serial number shown is the *first* serial number produced the given year. Exceptions are serial
numbers preceded by "up to"(where you can assume that the numbers reported in that subsection are DECEMBER 31, END OF YEAR NUMBERS)
or rows where a month is given in the month column. If the serial number is shown as a range (xxxx-xxxx) it indicates
that we know the entire range of serial numbers for the given year.

In 1905, the Franklin Typewriter Company
began work on a $100 four bank frontstroke standard design
developed mostly by J.A. Hagerstrom with the assistance of George W. Campbell and
later contributions by William H. Hulse. This new design was intended to
replace the then-new but already outdated No.10 Franklin.
The new "Victor", which took its name from the
predecessor to the Franklin,
was manufactured and marketed by a newly formed company,
Victor Typewriter Company, which was incorporated to absorb the interests of the Franklin corporation.

Victor No. 3 advertised.
May 1915: Int'l Textbook begins looking for a buyer for Victor.
Many proposals are entertained, but all fall through.

50,87

1916

Victor No. 3 advertised.
In 1916, Victor decides to sell some of its sales offices in smaller business areas and hand
over the dealership rights to typewriter businesses already established in those locations.
In England, Salter Typewriter Co. arranged to sell the Victor typewriter through its dealer network.The Boston Board of Education, after considering various models for two years,
order 1,000 Victor typewriters.

50,87

1917

Victor No. 3 advertised.
Victor operations relocated to Scranton, PA. on May, 1917.
September 1917: Victor sets up Victor Typewriter Sales & Supply Co.
to handle its rebuilt and/or traded in machines.
This company was also located in Scranton, Pa.
May to December 1917: International Textbook and ICS reports loss of over 12,000
correspondence students as a result of the War.

Victor No. 10 advertised heavily in Typewriter Topics through December 1922
(half-page ad for No. 10 in all 12 issues, Jan through Dec).
Topics also reports a visit to the offices by Victor President Mayne R. Denman in February,
banner sales for Victor in June (greater than any month for a year and a half, with sales 25% greater than shipments)
and yet another visit from Denman in October where he states that he has "nothing to complain of".
This is probably hyperbole, as it is not long before Victor is in hock to ITC.
By 1924 it is in debt to the tune of $586,000 to its former owners.

50,82,87

1923

Victor No. 10 advertised.

50,87

1924

Victor No. 10 advertised.
March 1924: Ownership of Victor Typewriter Company passes back to International Textbook.

50,87

1925

References to Victor Typewriter can still be found in 1925 publications, but none have been found in 1926.Nobody seems to know when the Victor crashed and burned. I'd love to get ahold of Typewriter Topics issues from 1923 through,
(well, actually all of them) say 1925. I think they would tell the story of the end of Victor and what happened when.

87

Platen Diameter

unknown

24

Victor Portable / Harry A. Smith

1926-1928

Victor sells right to manufacture and market typewriters under the name "Victor" to
Victor Adding Machine Co. which briefly produced the
Victor Portable for a few months
between April, 1927 and early 1928. This design is mechanically unrelated to the Victor Typewriter design.

Victor machines were rebuilt and relabeled by Harry A. Smith, and can be found with his brand and model numbers
2,4 and 6 (rebuilt Victor No. 2) and 9 and 12 (rebuilt Victor No. 3)

50,87

Reference numbers

*
Indicates source data the current list maintainer has access to. Usually it means we have a copy of the document in question, but it might be in the form of a later edition list. However, for the purposes of validation we have been able to confirm the source.

No.

Literature

1

* Century of the Typewriter, Wilfred A. Beeching, publ. by
the British Typewriter Museum, 1974, 1990, ISBN 0951679007

* R. Blickensderfer and P. Robert, "The Five-Pound Secretary. An Illustrated History
of the Blickensderfer Typewriter", publ. 2003 by The Virtual Typewriter Museum, excerpt contributed by Georg Sommeregger.